The Freudian sip
by mysticpotion
Summary: House and Wilson have a drink in a bar after a long day at the teaching hospital. They both consume a bit too much and surprising revelations follow. Rated M just in case. House/Wilson slash
1. Chapter 1

_**The Freudian sip**_

I don't own any of the characters of House MD and this is just purely for fun-so no one sue me ( I have no money anyhow) XD

_**House and Wilson- in a bar-**_

(Not drunk but shall we say comfortably inebriated)

_House is nursing sixth scotch. Wilson sits by his side on bar stool._

**Wilson**: So I told her she only had a year. You should have seen her House. I look at these people every day and it's like I'm playing God. They sit there staring at me, looking deep into my eyes and when they don't like what they see in the expression on my face, their focus shifts to my hands and the file I'm clutching, like it's gonna have something better to say...it never does. I say the words like I'm reading you the Horse racing times

**House**: And you do that gently and sincere...very soft...I was moved when you read out those runners in the three thirty yesterday.

_Wilson ignores him_

**Wilson**: And I slowly watch as what I say and how I say it, single handily ends that persons plans for the rest of their life. The kids, the Husband, the Wife... they don't get to get any of it now.

**House**: And I'm sure most where really looking forward to having all three

**Again ignores him**

**Wilson**: And all I can think at that moment when they thank me and leave my office is how lucky they are. Because by the tears in their eyes and the torment on their face I can see that they are losing a life that was important to them

**House**: Your so right...their luck is in when they don't see Jimmy's dazzling grin.

_Wilson acknowledges him for first time_

**Wilson**: Don't you get it? They have a life to lose House. They have a life to mourn over. There out there making the best of those 365 days. What are we doing?

**House**: Well I'm sitting on a bar stool at 12:43 in the morning eyeing up that blonde over there and getting pissed, you on the other hand have only one eye on the blonde, and are most definitely pissed as your leaning to the side of the bar stool, contemplating life and how rubbish ours is and I estimate your about… oh one more scotch away from having to have me carry you home...again

_Wilson takes a last sip of whisky_

**Wilson:** Exactly. We have no life. We don't have kids. Wives. Husbands...

_Wilson laughs when he realises what he said. Nearly falls of stool, House grabs him_

**House:** Well that's not entirely true. We could have a number of illegal brats out there between us, and you've had enough wife's to do the both of us...I'm just glad they didn't literally do the both of us.

_Wilson laughs_

And well as for husbands. We'll discuss that Freudian slip when you can stand in an upright position unaided.

_Wilson ignores House_

**Wilson**: The truth is that we are sad individuals that will lead sad little life's that will end sadly. We will never be happy House. We will always be right by one another's side, getting drunk like this for the rest of our days.

**House**: And what's so wrong with that? What's so great about Mrs Cancer's life? She has a Husband who is probably cheating with the hot secretary at his office and kids who are being handed back every night by the police. Little Leeches of society, with too much money, that didn't get mommy and daddy's love. Think of Chase and you're along the right lines

Our lives aren't fine Wilson, they suck, but so does everybody's...ours just looks a little better after a bottle of scotch...well mines does. Must be the vicodin that gives me the extra kick

**Wilson:** ahhh...the third wheel in our friendship

_House look round_

**House**: Cuddy's here! Oh goody. Did…oh… wait a minute. You mean the Vicodin don't you?

**Wilson**: I'm surprised it's took this long to get it into the conversation

**House**: Well you were clogging it up with your talk of ruined life's and Husbands and all

**Wilson**: Mrs Cancer's life might suck House but at night...even if he has been doing the secretary...she's still gonna have someone to hold her and lie to her...and all we have is each other

**House**: I can lie to you if you like. We both know that is one thing I'm really good at. The holding part we'll need to work on a bit, maybe a few more of these and….

**Wilson:** You know what I mean. This isn't the same as having someone

**House**: You've had enough.

**Wilson**: it isn't healthy

**House:** neither is Mrs Cancer's life

**Wilson**: We need to start realising that what we have is not. Is not a substitution, it's a consolation

_House thinks for a minute-looks at Wilson searchingly _

**House**: Well I'm definitely realising something

**Wilson**: I don't know what I'm saying anymore...I think I might be a little drunk

_Wilson goes to get up- House stops him_

**House**: If I were a woman...and you were a man. Do you think we would have been sitting here on these stools getting drunk, or do you think we would have already screwed up our friendship by sleeping with one another?

**Wilson:** What kind of question is that?

**House**: An important one. Come on Jimmy you've been asking questions all night and getting philosophical on our asses...answer one of my little conundrums for a change

**Wilson**: What are you looking for?

**House**: You...

_House studies Wilson's expression for a minute..._

**House:** To give an answer. I'm looking for you to give an answer Jimmy

**Wilson:** An answer

**House:** Yeah Wilson an answer. You know that thing that generally comes after a question?

**Wilson**: I know what it is House I just don't think I should exercise its use right now

**House**: Exercising it may exorcise the demons Jimbo.

**Wilson**: Why is an answer to that question important House?

**House**: you know me, and therefore you know that the answer holds no interest, or at least not as much interest as what's interesting right now

**Wilson**: Which is?

**House**: You won't answer the question. You're avoiding it, which tells me that you find it deeply uncomfortable

**Wilson**: There's a dozen men in this bar House, go to every one of them sitting in two's and ask them if there male friend was a woman would he have a relationship with him and he'll be exactly the same as me

**House**: Excellent idea, scientific and effective

_House gets up_

**Wilson**: Sit down House you're gonna get us killed….

**Wilson to himself**: _oh no! He didn't just go to the guy with the tattoo of a hanging bunny rabbit, and his friend with the matching devil knuckles_

**House**: Excuse me gentlemen…lovely tattoo buy the way. No sign of infection at all. I was just wondering something

**Biker one**: Yeah well wonder quick

**House:** If this lovely man here with the tattooed devil knuckles were a woman would you do him

_Biker one and two laugh_

**Biker 2**: Is this guy serious

**Wilson**: House come on. What are you proving with this?

**Biker 1**: Sure I'd do him…only if he could still drink me under the table

Both laugh

**Biker two**: What about you?

**House**: Well he'd have to lose the spider tattooed on his forehead

**Biker two**: You know what I mean

_House looks at Wilson:_

**House**: He can't drink me under the table yet

**Biker one**: Then do him. He's already a woman

_Wilson pulls House away_

**Wilson**: Satisfied

**House still laughing:** Extremely

**House:** Nice guys really just a shame I can smell them from here

**Wilson**: Can't we go to a bar just once and not take our lives in our hands?

**House**: You picked this nasty little place Wilson, so you must like the thrill

**Wilson**: I picked it because I knew you'd find it interesting not…

**House:** So you picked it for me?

**Wilson**: No…yes…I guess

**House**: See you can give an answer to a question…you can give several…just need one more answer from you

_Wilson picks up his empty glass_

**Wilson to barman**: One more over here please

**House:** You're sweating James…nervous about something?

**Wilson to barman**: Make it a double

_Wilson rubs his forehead_

**Wilson:** Alright you win, I don't know what this will prove House but the truth is that I've never met anyone like you and so if you were a woman…a woman I'm stressing

**House in mocking tone**: Oh of course

_Wilson looks at him ominously but carries on_

**Wilson**: If you were a woman I'd in all likelihood have made you the first and the last Mrs Wilson.

**House**: Well why let a little thing like lack of breasts stand in the way, you never did before, I refer back to wife number two

**Wilson**: Oh that's not my issue, with all those extra cafeteria lunches lately you're forming a lovely pair of breasts…it's the little thing that's more the bigger issue

_House lifts up whisky bottle_

**Wilson:** What are you doing?

**House**: May cause liver failure, slurred speech, balance issues….nup it says nothing about increased wit upon consumption.

**Wilson**: So come on then?

**House**: Come on what?

**Wilson**: Just give me the big speech in which you summarise the symptoms of your James Wilson diagnosis. You know the one that's forming rapidly in that dark chasm of a mind

**House:** Well I don't have a file to clutch or your big sad eyes but I'll try and break it to you gently

**Wilson**: Just get on with it

**House**: You want me…badly

_Wilson spits out whisky_

**House:** Hey just because I told you that you have terminal gayness doesn't give you the right to waste good whisky

**Wilson**: You…I mean you think…are you crazy!

**House**: Of course I am but that doesn't change the fact that you're in love with me

**Wilson:** it gets better…I'm in love with you now. I only wanted you a minute ago. Give you a moment and you'll be saying I want to marry you

**House**: Well you do, least we forget the Freudian slip

**Wilson**: unbelievable…you amaze me…I mean you were getting rather boring and predictable these last few weeks but I've got to hand it to you. Bravo

_Goes to leave House grabs him once more and slides his hand down his arm_

**House:** Feels good to you doesn't it….that's what eats you up inside.

_Wilson shakes his hand off_

**Wilson**: You're delusional House…the vicodin has finally fried your brain cells

**House**: You get a feeling inside you that rocks you to the core when I'm near you. Just walking by me is enough to put you on edge. You block it out by filling your days with nurses or the latest wife but none of them give you the same feeling, the same thrill as when you're with me, do they?

**Wilson**: You know I must say your ego is almost non-existent these days.

**House**: Another question Wilson

**Wilson**: Well you get no more answers House….just because I'd be with you if you were a woman doesn't mean I'd be with you as a man.

**House**: And that's what is eating you up, right? You don't have to be ashamed of that. You don't have to be ashamed that you want me

**Wilson**: I don't want you. This is ridiculous; I can't believe we're having this conversation

**House:** You wanted this conversation Wilson. You started it so don't back away now. Why can't you admit it to yourself? Think. Think about all the stuff you do in life. How much is it to please me?

**Wilson**: I do that because you're like a brother to me and because I'm an enabler. And...

**House**: Don't hide behind excuses you don't believe. It's more than that. It's always been more than that. Bailing me out of jail and nearly going to prison for me, defending me every time no matter what I do or say to anyone. Your wife's hated me Wilson. They hated me because I was always more important to you than they could ever be.

**Wilson**: What do you want? Do you want me to say I'm in love with you? That I watched you everyday throw your life down the drain and all I could do was stand by and do the same because I'd always need you in mine. I do treat you like a brother House. I treat you like a brother because I can't bring myself to think of you in any other way.

**House:** because it's painful

**Wilson**: yeeeeees

**House:** Because you love me

**Wilson:** I do but… not

**House:** YOU'RE A MORON!

**Wilson**: What!

**House:** You heard me. Everything with you has to be a drama. You would be with me if I were a Woman. You admit that. Therefore it is obvious that you want me if you remove the gender issue

**Wilson**: It's an important iss….

**House:** Shut up. You care about me more than you've ever cared about anyone else and you have strong feelings for me. However you like women. I know you like women, but still there just not good enough. Maybe you have issues with your mother or something. Aint my problem, see a shrink. You've never liked any other man right?

**Wilson**: I want to crawl into a hole and die

**House:** So many jokes running through my head right now but not enough time

**Wilson**: funny

**House**: So anyway where was I…oh yes so I'm special, like I didn't know? Therefore the answer is simple

**Wilson**: Really?

**House:** Yes, really it comes down to this…I'm the love of you're miserable screwed up life. Wives and Husbands could come and go but you only have eyes for me. Don't beat yourself up. Life's a bitch and by some cruel twist of fate your soul mate just happens to be a man. You didn't decide that and you sure as hell tried your hardest to fight against it but after seventeen long miserable and disconnected years you finally cracked over three whisky's and a Diana Ross greatest hits album playing in the background of a seedy bar. It's happened to the best of us.

**Wilson:** You're very calm and clinical; you don't have a problem with any of this?

**House:** Why would I. Life's a bitch remember? That's why you just happen to be the love of my miserable screwed up life

_Wilson looks at him funny_

**Wilson:** What mind game are you playing?

**House**: I'm being serious

**Wilson**: But you like women…you were in love with Stacy for crying out loud. Why are you torturing me with this? What can you possibly get out of it now? I'm already on my knees.

**House**: Of course I loved Stacy but I just happen to love you more, it's no big deal

**Wilson**: No big deal…no big deal…we're sitting in a bar like countless other times…I make a few comments and you spring this on me. We've gone from best friends to…to what? I don't know what we are anymore

**House**: Friends with benefits?

**Wilson:** That actually made me shudder. Just the thought of…us…it's making me a little nauseous.

**House**: Wouldn't be the first time I've heard that from someone in a bar

**Wilson**: If…if I was to believe you are being serious right now…then what the hell do we do about it?

**House:** We live with it Wilson. We live with it and we carry on as we are, because we can't do anything else. I'll keep on saving lives and you can keep on ending them. We'll keep getting drunk in the same old seedy bars and we'll keep doing so right by one another's side. We'll watch as other people have "normal" lives and we'll piss ours away. I'll keep taking vicodin and you'll keep taking your anti-depressants and we'll hate one another and love one another continuously in this fued up manner until one or both of us ceases to breath life into this skeletal prison we live in

_House takes a long drink of whisky as does Wilson_

_Song begins to play: silence_

_**Sitting here wasted and wounded  
at this old piano  
Trying hard to capture  
the moment this morning I don't know  
'Cause a bottle of vodka  
is still lodged in my hand  
And some blond gave me nightmares  
I think that she's still in my bed  
As I dream about movies  
they won't make of me when I'm dead**_

With an ironclad fist I wake up and  
French kiss the morning  
While some marching band keeps  
its own beat in my head  
While we're talking  
About all of the things that I long to believe  
About love and the truth and  
what you mean to me  
And the truth is baby you're all that I need

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses  
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails  
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is  
And lay you down on a bed of roses

Well I'm so far away  
That each step that I take is on my way home  
A king's ransom in dimes I'd given each night   
Just to see through this payphone  
Still I run out of time  
Or it's hard to get through  
Till the bird on the wire flies me back to you  
I'll just close my eyes and whisper,  
baby blind love is true

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses  
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails  
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is  
And lay you down on a bed of roses

The hotel bar hangover whiskey's gone dry  
The barkeeper's wig's crooked  
And she's giving me the eye  
I might have said yeah   
But I laughed so hard I think I died

When you close your eyes  
Know I'll be thinking about you  
While my mistress she calls me  
To stand in her spotlight again  
Tonight I won't be alone  
But you know that don't  
Mean I'm not lonely I've got nothing to prove  
For it's you that I'd die to defend

I want to lay you down in a bed of roses  
For tonight I sleep on a bed of nails  
I want to be just as close as the Holy Ghost is  
And lay you down in a bed of roses [Bon Jovi 

**House:** Or…just maybe…you can come back to my place and I'll let you drink me under the table.

_House looks at Wilson with raised eyebrow and smiles_


	2. Backward about going forward

backward about going forward

Entwined arms and legs lay limp and lifeless like a dead vine clinging to its final resting place. The Floor in which this mound of joined flesh clung was cluttered with the debris of reckless and forbidden love laid bare. Shoes scattered north and trousers thrust south. One White shirt hanging dangerously on the lamp shade, poised; and ready to jump into the abyss below. A black T-shirt with the words, "Does Cuddys' ass look big in this?" followed by a solitary photo of her behind, nestled on the table which had that night previously, provided shelter for unnatural deeds to indeed develop. Upon the Ivory linen surface of its table cloth, laid two vicodin, a deck of cards and a whisky bottle; blood red tie wrapped around its neck..

Knock!

Two sets of eyes clawed mercilessly at the approaching daylight and then scrunched in terror at the sight, the fright and the throbbing pain which consciousness had delivered to them.

Knock!

The Vine so unproductive only moments before, now sprang to life, unravelling quickly and ferociously. Flesh which had surrendered itself to be knitted to kindred flesh only hours before was, in the cold light of day, being gladly torn to singular strands.

Knock!

Shoes were gathered from their worldly expeditions and trousers remained to the South but in such a way that would spare the blushes of whoever was making such an impertinent noise so early in the morning

Knock!

The suicidal shirt was talked down from the lamp shade by a hung-over oncologist Samaritan and being very skilled in the power of persuasion, he also managed to save the Whisky bottle from a hanging.

Knock!

Four knocks by the mystery caller and still not a word had been spoken. No words by the caller and no words by the receivers. However upon the fifth knock, and after he had retrieved his t-shirt and the two vicodin from the table, the master of the House now felt inclined to speak to his unknown guest

"I don't care who you are, I don't care If you're a Christian, Mormon, Muslim, Buddhist, Jew, Sikh, Scientologist, Santa Claus or Selma Hayek, get the hell off my property cause you just woke us up!"

Us! Who the hell is Us? You have a hooker in there when you're meant to be in the clinic!

It was then that Gregory House wished that Scientologists had indeed been the ones to beam down to his door rather than the woman whose ass now adorned his chest. He wasn't embarrassed about the t-shirt. He had planned to wear it to clinic that very day. And when he flung his front door open and her eyes eventually focused on it in horror, he definitely wasn't embarrassed. Triumphant and smug, not embarrassed. However what he was a little embarrassed about was the Oncologist standing behind him, left hand casually resting on the piano top, right hand firmly on his waist, smiling like Donny Osmond on crack, trying in vain to look normal, all the while whilst wearing his pants back to front. Now that was embarrassing.

Cuddy stormed into the middle of the living room her face like a gathering storm.

"House why the hell aren't you in clinic right now dealing with people that have kitchen pots stuck to their heads?"

"I specifically remember yesterday me saying, 'I'm not coming in tomorrow' and you saying 'over my dead body' then I said 'we can only hope', then you said 'get out you asshole'

'House just shut up, get cleaned up and get the hell into the clinic'

House gave a little salute to his captain. To many reading you would be forgiven for thinking this a playful term of endearment between friends. However never make this mistake with Gregory House. The salute in which I speak was one favoured by Hitler's Germany.

It was then that the other person in the room chose to acknowledge his existence. He did not do this through any other means than a low level chuckle to himself. A chuckle that he quickly regretted

"Spend less time smirking and more time working on how to put your pants on correctly Dr Wilson"

And with that she was gone, never stopping to close the door which was ajar behind her, or even to look at her employees bright red cheeks as the realisation of what had just occurred hit him with full effect.

As House looked at his bosses a$$ getting smaller with each passing sway on the horizon and then towards the oncologists perfectly formed one struggling violently to be released from its prison into the early morning chill, only three words sprang to mind

Need any help?


	3. Chapter 3

**Something to think about**

"_Help!...Help? Oh yes I need help alright, a considerable amount of help."_

The Oncologist, face still bright red, was clawing viciously at his pants. As he tried to remove the trousers which were now stuck at his ankles, he began hopping on his left foot and moving round in circles as he did so. He was failing miserably and House could do nothing but stand and watch in amusement.

"I take it we are not talking about the pants anymore?"

Wilson chose to give up on them and make eye contact with House for the first time since they had woken up. For the first time since they had...had... Wilson couldn't physically finish the thought through fear that he would self destruct. He didn't have to though. His thoughts were stopped by the look of anticipation on House's face and he realised he hadn't answered the question.

"_No, we are not. We are not talking about any of it ever again. Go get a shower, I'll make you breakfast, then you can go to the clinic. Everything back to normal!"_

Wilson's voice was breaking as he forced the last line from his quivering lips. House wondered how much he remembered about the night before and was about to ask, when he saw Wilson's large pleading eyes and realised he remembered every little hot intimate detail. House also quickly realised Wilson wasn't able to face this yet. So he played along with the charade.

"_Everything back to normal mean I get pancakes?"_

The relief on Wilson's face was evident as his shoulders relaxed and a small smile appeared on his lips.

"_If that's what you want then yes .Now are you going for a shower?"_

House knew Wilson was trying to get rid of him for a while. For around ten minutes to be precise. However House did not feel like granting him that wish. This was mainly because he had no desire to shower and therefore rinse away the smell of Wilson from his clammy skin and also because he didn't want to move from his friend's side just yet. Even if it was only to a neighbouring room the separation would have been too uncomfortable and there was a chance Wilson would use those ten minutes to disappear. House was snapped from his thought process when he suddenly noticed Wilson looking everywhere but at him. He decided he better speak, so he made reference to the other prominent smell engulfing his body.

"_No, I feel it best to turn up to work smelling of a brewery that way Cuddy will send me home quicker."_

The utter look of horror on Wilson at the thought of going to work unclean always made House smile inwardly. They really were the odd couple. And yet House's hygiene hadn't been an issue for Wilson last night when he licked every inch of him several times. He would have said this if he wasn't certain that upon doing so, he'd never see Wilson's pancakes again. He therefore decided to encourage the normalcy Wilson craved. Even if it was a ridiculous notion considering deep down both had realised nothing would be 'normal' ever again.

"_So... what will you be doing today while I'm slogging my guts out in hell with Satan and her minions."_

"_Nothing...thinking..."_

Wilson was placing the pancakes in front of House and his ability to make eye contact had once again ceased. He was sweaty, he was hung-over, his hair was everywhere and he was now wearing nothing but a pair of boxers. He was to House, absolutely magnificent when he looked like this and he didn't even realise it. House decided it was now time to get away for a while and let them both clear their heads of everything which had been clogging them up since last night. He spoke to Wilson as soothingly as was possible for him.

"_Ok then, well duty calls and by duty calling, I mean hussy screeches if I stall with clinic hours any longer, so I'll be getting out of your uncharacteristically non blow dried hair now."_

House felt like he had just had the most uncomfortable breakfast experience he'd ever had with someone he slept with and considering he had ate breakfast once with a hooker, this was saying something. Only this time though this wasn't some money grabbing whore, this was Wilson. This shouldn't be awkward, it should feel a hundred things but never awkward. House concluded it was perhaps a foreboding sign of things to come if he didn't act quickly. Wilson, though minus hooker and plus ex wife, was pretty much feeling and thinking in the same way, except he had no thoughts of any further action taking place.

House grabbed his things and decided now he would do what he had been planning all morning since Cuddy appeared. It probably wasn't the smartest move but he had to do something. Grabbing his things and putting them right next to the door, he was now set for a quick exit. It would almost definitely be needed.

"_I'm leaving now Wilson"_

Wilson Hadn't replied to House, instead he nodded downwards and then walked towards the sink and began stacking the dishes up for washing. House moved slowly towards him as to not alarm him by his presence but he needn't have bothered. Wilson was most definitely in a world of his own, a world where straight male best friends don't suddenly get shit faced, declare their undying love for one another and then consummate the thing. When House was close enough to carry out his plan he said Wilson's name as a whisper and yet it was enough to snap him from his thoughts and back into the real world.

"James"

Wilson automatically turned round; shocked at how this action had meant their faces were now only millimetres apart. House looked at the Oncologist's face like he was drinking it up, searching every corner, focusing on his eyes which were now like saucers. It was then that House began to focus on the younger man's lips. He lifted his hand as if he were about to place it somewhere warm and full and wet but then thought better of it. His hand returned to his side once more. He spoke hoarsely and he was shaking but he was still resolute in the action he was about to take.

"_I figured I'd give you something to think about before I leave for work"_

With that House grabbed the Oncologist's head in his hands and kissed him with an urgency and force that he had not believed he had in him and yet here it was, causing Wilson to be powerless to prevent it from continuing. He had of course struggled somewhat to fight House off but House then simply moved his grip into a bear hug to restrain his friends arms, all the while making sure he never broke from the kiss. House pushed Wilson backwards towards the sink were the dishes were stacked up. Their bodies were as close as they had been first thing that morning, when they lay entwined in each other's supportive embrace. Dishwater swayed fiercely at the edges of the sink causing it to overflow and splash all over Wilson. The slippery wetness caused House's hands to involuntarily slide downwards towards the Oncologist's lower back. His hands were now only inches from his ass. He had pushed a startled Wilson so far back now; the faucet had been accidentally stroked by them both, causing water to erupt uncontrollably from it. As the chaos built around them and between them, the dishes crashing to the kitchen floor were the only symbolic indication that everything between them up untill this moment had been shattered to pieces.


	4. The Shared Experiences of Friends

**Okay guys it's been a while but here it is! Please please review so I know if it's worth continuing or not**

p.s Does anyone else feel they'll just burst if Hilson doesn't happen on the show lol

**The Shared Experiences of Friends**

'Dr Wilson...Wilson, you listening to me? Wake up Wilson!'

The Oncologist snapped out of his sleep to see an anxious looking Cuddy standing at the door of his dimly lit office. It took several moments of rubbing his eyes before he could fully see the extent of how worried she actually looked.

'Something wrong Cuddy?'

She strode into the room and lowered herself to his eye level placing her hand tentatively on his shoulder. Wilson fought back a lump in his throat and the sickening feeling developing in the pit of his stomach in order to utter one weak and familiar word. A word often associated with panic when they came together like this.

'House?'

He threw himself up from his couch quickly, ready to face whatever cataclysmic situation that had surfaced involving the Diagnostician now, unsure of whether to pull his Doctors coat on because he would be dealing with the aftermath of a meltdown in the hospital or whether to put his outdoor jacket on instead because he would have to ride his white horse farther afield to save the troubled ogre in his life.

'Where is he? Is it bad?'

Cuddy watched his agitated manner for some moments before her confusion cleared and she realised that she had to make her reason for being there more precisely known.

'Wilson calm down, as far as I know other than having a black eye and a burst lip he's fine. The pitiful expression I had on my face was for you not for him. What's wrong with you? I'm guessing it's something to do with House because of his new facial decorations and because the team have told me that you've been avoiding one another like the plague the last two days. House is miserable, irritable and distracted, which in turn is making his team edgy and depressed, which in turn is making the new patient I found for them still unexplainably dying.'

'So what you are really saying is, 'I need House to be fully functioning right now if I'm going to get another big fat pay cheque for the hospital, so put your own issues to the side and make House happy'. Is that about right Dean?'

A little wounded but coy enough not to own to it, Lisa Cuddy removed herself from Wilson's side and walked towards his desk. She propped herself on its edge and leaning her hands back on either side began swinging her legs gently, her heels pointed downward. Her eyes then focused once more on the now vertical form of her head of Oncology. She spoke soothingly but with a firmness in her voice that let anyone hearing it know she was nobody's fool.

'No you know full well that's not what I'm saying. I'm worried about you, my patient and House. You've spent the last two nights at the hospital volunteering with your time off Wilson. That means you haven't been home for two days and it means more importantly that you're avoiding going home. The last time I saw you and House together was exactly two days ago when I hunted him down for skipping clinic duty and found you both standing hung over, half naked and agitated in the middle of the living room. What has he gotten you involved in this time that's making you avoid him and the House you live in?'

The Oncologist chose this moment to place his Doctors coat neatly on the stand next to his door, momentarily gaining a reprieve from searching eyes by engineering a way to turn himself from them. He tilted his head in defeat however as time passed and the question continued to silently circulate the room with no sign of being replaced by a gentler more Wilson friendly one. He turned and focused his tired eyes on large puzzled ones.

'You wouldn't believe me if I told you or maybe you would. It has after all been doing the rounds in the Hospital rumour mill for quite some time. There might even be a book open for when it would happen. I wonder who had March 2010? Probably House.'

Cuddy looked at the dishevelled mess now weakly leaning on the door in front of her and for an unknown reason got her own sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. These two were friends. Good friends. However they had always been bound in friendship through a common link in the form of House. Most of their dealings with one another revolved around issues associated with him. Very little personal confiding was done between them. It was occasionally an uneasy alliance they shared. Sometimes they kept a united front against House like an intervention tag team and sometimes he played them off against one another and they stupidly fell for it time and again. However House wasn't the one sitting in front of her right now pleading for her help and Wilson wasn't the one chastising her for dealing with House wrongly. House clearly had everything to do with the state Wilson was in but nothing to do with the immediate situation in front of her. Wilson needed someone to talk to who didn't mock feelings; wasn't an asshole, wasn't House. She was determined to be useful to him in any way possible.

'You can't keep staying here. If you can't go back to House then come and stay with me for a few nights and we'll talk about whatever it is you need to talk about. Whatever it is, it can't be that bad. I want to help you James.'

His eyes began rimming with tears as he uncharacteristically threw himself into her arms. Shocked, Cuddy could only hug him tightly as his head rested on her shoulder. She began stroking him in a repetitively soothing manner. She suddenly realised how intimate they would look to someone barging in the office at that moment in time and seeing him, head buried in her neck moaning whilst she cradled his body almost between her legs as she sat very unladylike on the edge of his desk. She half wondered what the look on House's face would be if he was the one to take in that site. This thought however, was quickly replaced in her mind with another upon hearing the low muffled sounds her head of Oncology was forming into words on her shoulder. She would never be prepared for the words he choked out as his tears and phlegm stained her otherwise immaculate red silk blouse.

'I've slept with him. It was a terrible mistake. I've ruined the one thing that matters to me.'

It took her several shocked minutes to register what he meant, then it hit her full force knocking that sinking feeling in her stomach away and replacing it with a sucker punch. Wilson had been intimate with House. Once upon a time she had also been physically intimate with the same man, a younger version more vibrant but just as acidic egotistical and as brilliant.

In a split second she had gone from thinking about how sexual her own situation with Wilson looked, to shamefully thinking about how her two employees and friends would be together. Would House have nibbled on Wilson's ear and neck like he had done with her? Would he have let his guard down for a few fleeting hours and smiled at Wilson with unmistakable trust, longing and love in his eyes? Had he turned cold again when the initial feelings faded and became his insufferable emotionally caged and mocking self once more? Had he made Wilson feel in that short intimate time like he was the only thing in the world worth his attention to then ignore him vehemently and discard him when his services were no longer required?

She snapped out of her thought process, realising that there was an emotionally distraught Oncologist still attached to her and leaking all over her expensive new blouse. She would have to speak to him and say something reassuring. It would be more difficult to be his friend in this situation now but not impossible. She composed herself enough to sound Nonchalant and to stress that the offer of friendship, impartial advice and a place to stay still stood.

'We'll buy out the liquor store on the way home. I don't know about you but I definitely need a drink now.'

Wilson finally removed his head from her shoulder and she used her sleeve to wipe his tear stained face. She explained to him she'd meet him downstairs, giving her time to get her things and him time to compose himself and lock his office up for the night. As Lisa Cuddy shut the door, she was most definitely in a state of shock as her heels absentmindedly clicked two and fro past the room parallel to the one she exited. So lost in thought was she that she jumped and let out a small scream when a soft foam ball bounced out of the door of the office and hit her of all places on her breasts. However no joke was made by the person who threw the ball regarding where it landed and for a split second she couldn't deny that she felt disappointment at this fact. She turned to face the man she knew had purposely launched the ball in her direction. As she did so, he in turn rewarded her curiosity with four simple words.

'You know don't you?'

**To be continued *Do you think Wilson will realise he has to give him and House a chance or will he turn him down thus pushing House into the arms of another more willing partner?*Will Cuddy try to use the trust she gains from Wilson to negatively influence him or to influence him in a manner which suits her purposes? Hmmm** **decisions, decisions-answers on a postcard...or the review page if it's quicker for ya! :D**


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